Forum posts

This page will store all notable posts from Mateusz Skutnik that are strictly related to Submachine series. All the posts are taken from the old Rewolucje forum, where the author used the nickname murtaugh after the in-game character Murtaugh, as well as from Pastel Forum which at the end of 2014 moved to Pastel Land (and isn't hosted by Mateusz anymore) and also Mateusz's Facebook account. The posts are shown from the most recent to the oldest:

(Note: All times posted in Eastern Standard Time or Eastern European Time)

Jan 18, 2018: Q & A Part 1/5

1. At the ends of Submachine 10 and Submachine Universe, the Player ends up in a desert. What is the significance of this place for people like Murtaugh and Elizabeth, and where is it located with respect to the rest of the Submachine? Is it a foreign planet, as it appears, or is this an alternate Earth?

The desert is located on Earth, it’s just another layer of reality, as those layers span over entire universe, so you can get a planet set in different layers having different characteristics, like atmosphere or number of moons. This explains green hue and two moons in this particular instance.

2. Where is the Edge located exactly? Is it a wall between the Core and the Outer Rim, or is it surrounding the Outer Rim? Or both things are true, and we travel to the outer part to disable the inner part’s defences? How does one explain the human infestation map in Submachine 6?

The Edge was evolving with the expansion of the subnet. It was firstly created as a measure of defence for the core, but then was expanded to cover more and more ground regarding expanding nature of the entire subnet. Yes, we travel between different parts / rings of defences. Infestation map was created by artificial intelligence.

3. What does the Defence System actually do and what is it protecting? Who are the turrets for and where are they pointed? Does it govern the subbots? Does it protect the Core or is it at the outer edge of the outer rim? Are the defences in or out?

The purpose of the defence system is to protect the core from colliding with collapsing parts of the outer rim. It does not govern the subbots. The defences are outwards toward the “enemy”. That enemy being other, rogue parts of the subnet growth.

4. If the Lighthouse is a part of the Core and the Root is a part of the Outer Rim, how can they be connected physically (as seen in Submachine 5)?

The border between the Core and the Root is not reflected in the physical form of those locations.

5. What is the true layout of the Lighthouse? Is the painting shown in Submachine 1 correct? If so, why can’t we see the entrance nor the third floor window in Submachine 2?

The painting is not correct concerning the architecture of the actual lighthouse from Submachine 2. That painting could be from another layer.

6. Do the structures seen at the ending of Submachine Universe imply that the player didn’t exit the Subnet from any of them because they weren’t their home layer?

They are his (player’s) home layer, as is the observatory that we’re exiting through. It was just a matter of sheer coincidence that we left through observatory and not one of those giant dish telescopes.

7. Where is the Kent we keep hearing about? England, Connecticut or some place original to the Submachine canon?

Kent is somewhere unrelated to our geographical layout. At least of our layer that we, humans, occupy right now.

8. Why do all layers have a black void in the background while in Submachine 8 we see different sky backgrounds?

Each layer is different and presents unique characteristics, light disperses differently in each one.

9. Is the starry background in Submachine 8’s layer 2 fake, or is Submachine really so big that it can host whole stars inside it?

It’s not fake. However, it’s not said that it’s a sky and those are stars. Void can be different as well in different layers.

10. Are the calculations on how big the Root is? That is to say, does the Root comprise of approximately 1413 rooms within 157 distinct transporter locations, which are a small part of 11,818 rooms of transporter locations?

I have no idea how big the root is. I mean, I never thought about it. You see, I can only see parts of the story at one time, I can’t see the big picture. I don’t know if there is one. It could be right, hard for me to say.

Jan 18, 2018: Q & A Part 2/5

11. What is the significance of the statue seen in 314 and why is it so similar to the one in 452?

The statue in 314 is a god of mathematics, or more specifically a god of PI. It’s similar to the one in 452, because it was the same culture that created both of those gods.

12. Are there locations in the Subnet that even Murtaugh with his karma arm cannot visit? If so, why? Are they specific locations, or do they form a group due to some property? Could they be reached by someone else?

No, he can get to any given location at will. All that is limiting him are the boundaries of the karma reach itself. I explain that a bit more down below in question about how does one create karma portals.

13. Is location 672 an example of a Submachine in construction?

No, it’s an example of Submachine entropy.

14. Does the Submachine copy structures built by aliens?

No. Aliens did not make contact in this reality in any of the layers.

15. Does the Submachine have an outer shell, like in the movie Cube, or is it infinite? If yes, what is it?

No, Submachine doesn’t have an outer shell. It disperses like universe.

16. Why does the Subnet exist at all? Where did it first come from and what made the first location be created/absorbed? Where is it? Is it inside a universe or its own universe? If the first Subnet location wasn’t necessarily built by humans then what’s responsible for starting everything? What was the intended purpose of just having a bunch of places in empty space somehow controlled by a computer?

The Submachine was build by humans. Subnet started growing by itself after the singularity.

17. When was the Lab created and for what purpose? Was it a part of the attempt to understand the collapse and rapid expansion? If not, what was it for and who controlled it?

the Lab was created in purpose of understanding the uncontrollable expansion of the subnet. It was not created, nor controlled by Murtaugh in it’s inception.

18. What is the purpose of the Root in the Submachine story line? What was it used for and who by and for how long? Why was there an observation room; is the place still used? In short: what is special about the Root, outside of it being the first man-made Submachine?

the Root was the first Submachine structure build. It was as a sandbox for developing more Submachine locations. Hence, the observation room. The place is abandoned now.

19. What were the seven-layer bullets used for and when? Was there a war between followers of Murtaugh and those who opposed him? Did people try to kill Murtaugh later? How did this affect Murtaugh? How did this affect the Subnet?

Seven-layer bullets are preventing the dodging of the bullet by changing layer. Such a bullet is present in all layers at once. You can dodge a 1-layer bullet just by hopping into another layer, with 7-layer bullets you can’t do it. No, there was not an all-out war between factions. Only smaller armed conflicts. People tried to kill M later. This resulted in him abandoning one-layer life. He became an unfocused being. This didn’t have any immediate result on the subnet.

20. What is the rough timeline of the “Sub-Eras” and the “Dynasties”? When did the singularity happen?

The timeline does not matter in this situations, since there’s a possibility of time travel in the structure. The singularity happened when Shiva gained consciousness. If you want me to spell out entire history of the Submachine Universe, I’m not doing that. I only offer small windows into particular moments of history.

Jan 18, 2018: Q & A Part 3/5

a: Mur and Liz travel into the past and are revered, but soon die and are buried in a proper format.

b: Mur and Liz go through time normally and, therefore, die normally.

They go back in time, are revered, but don’t die soon. They live quite a bit after starting the time travel era of their existence.

22. What are the specific moments during the series that the player travels in time, and roughly how many years/decades/etc. do they go forwards/backwards?

That’s for the player to find out, I’m not spoiling the game play of Submachine.

23. What happened exactly in the period between Submachine 4 and 5? The player woke up in a bed at the start of Submachine 5, with food and coffee, and there are no signs of them having been teleported recently; how did they get there?

I think a subbot guided the player to the living chamber. However, we did it on our own volition and completely consciously. In any case, this is irrelevant in the grander picture.

24. At which date does the first game take place?

Specific dates are insignificant to the story.

25. How exactly does one decide where to transport to find a new KP or XYZ location? So many of the XYZ locations are completely closed structures, so does that mean that the portals were already inside? But then how were explorers able to access them if they weren’t previously reverse-engineered? And how does Mur find new locations to turn into KP locations? Does he just point his arm off in space until a little chime plays so he knows he hit solid material?

You don’t. You just happen to find one. That’s the idea behind blind jumping. Yes, the portals were already inside the closed/collapsed/abandoned locations. Reverse engineering concerned only the subnet self-created transporters (one-armed ones), to allow them to carry humans, not the exploration team transporters (two-armed). Murtaugh finds new locations to visit by the way of echolocation, but instead of sound, he uses karmic footprint of solid matter. He senses the next possible location point.

26. What are the specific moments during the series that the player changes layer, and which layer do they end up each time?

It’s for the player of the game to find out. I’m not the one to dictate your game flow.

27. How do karma portals interact with the layer “dimension” (assuming that the layer dimension is accurately explained in the first place)? What does it mean to have “interdimensional karma flow”?

They rip through the layer fabric going to another layer. Think wormhole. They kind of ignore the solid state of matter in present layer and focus on similar anomaly in another layer. Two anomalies combine into a wormhole connecting two layers.

28. Are there instances in the games where layer and dimension are not used synonymously? Consider, for example “[t]he Submachine is now living in five dimensions” in Submachine 10.

No, layer and dimension are two different ways of describing the same thing.

29. Are layers and sublayers actually arranged in a continuum similar to the number line, as the note from Submachine 10 suggests? That is, is there a sublayer 1.5 between layer 1 and layer 2, a sublayer 1.25 between layer 1 and sublayer 1.5, and so on?

Yes, but it’s just a matter of nomenclature, those layers don’t really have any names attached to them. It was us who named them in an attempt to understand the workings of a multi-layered universe.

30. If so, what is there after layer 7? Does the structure wrap back to layer 1, like the numbers in a clock or like in a Submachine loop? Or there is simply nothing past it?

First of all, there is an eighth layer, the layer of light. After that the layers loop back to the beginning. There is a bigger question at hand here. If you jump from layer 7 to 8 and then jump in the same direction and land in layer 1, does that mean that another layer 1 was created after layer 8, or did you end up in the same layer you started your journey in?… I think – the latter is true.

Questions 21-30 of the January 2018 Q & A.

Jan 18, 2018: Q & A Part 4/5

31. What distinguishes the seven main layers from all other sublayers?

Probably not much, really. They’re distinguished artificially by the presence of humans and the number of karma portals that connect them. Think of main layers as highways and smaller ones as side country roads. It depends on karma traffic.

32. In layer 8, if all atoms are “frozen in time”, why can the player move?

In layer 8, all atoms that are original to this layer are frozen in time. Hence, when you jump to it, you can see basically what you’d see after crossing the event horizon of a black hole. With the exception that when you move you create friction, hence the light.

33. Who made up the plan and were the layers involved created by someone/something in particular? If so, how? If not, does that mean it’s just something that was “discovered” that’s tied to this fictional universe that we just have to accept?

The plan was made by the same people that created structures that take part in the plan. The architects of the first era. Layers were not created by anyone, just as the universe is not created by anyone. They were used to develop multi-layered architecture.

34. What is the difference between green, white and blue karmic energy?

The difference is range and bandwidth of karma flow in karma traffic. They are naturally all compatible with each other. When two different colors are combined in on karmic pathway, that pathway takes characteristics of the lower-tier karmic portal.

35. Is the color of a karma portal significant in some way? How about the size (as seen in Submachine 7)?

The color – look at previous answer. The size does not matter. After all – you end up in a tiny wormhole, dimensions are treated differently there.

36. What is the purpose of the player’s journey? Could you explain the player’s journey in your own words and how long it took? Are we a student going through a museum ride or what? How long after the events described in the notes is player actually situated in? Months? Years? Centuries? Millennia?

The purpose is 32. The player is what you want him/her to be. It’s kind of a role-playing element of the Submachine. That person can be just another cog in the machine. Just another explorer of the vast net of Submachine. Or the savior of the world and all structures in it. Depends on you really.

37. Who were the unidentified people who left notes in Submachines 8, 9 and 10, and how were they produced? Why are they written as dialogue, if they are notes? What is the speakers’ and the notes’ significance to the story?

Those were Monks studying ancient scrolls about the events of the second and third era.

38. In Submachine 10 we see what we assume to be inactive subbots lying about everywhere. Are they actually subbots and if not, what are they? Why are they there? Who used them and what for?

Yes, those were subbots. The Subbots are like white cells in your blood.

39. In Submachine 10 we see a lot of skulls, but no skeletons? Where did the skeletons go and where did the researcher get so many skulls in the first place?

He was looking for that chip, remember? He only needed heads to do so. The remains of all bodies are somewhere else.

40. Do subbots attack humans? If not, what is the note in location 613 referencing? Why and how do they do this?

Subbots are not hostile. They are the maintenance of the structure. As we said before they could’ve even helped you along your way in transferring from Submachine 4 to Submachine 5.

Jan 18, 2018: Q & A Part 5/5

41. Does Einstein actually have powers, or was that just an illusion caused by Murtaugh’s uncontrolled use of karma in the lighthouse?

Yes, Einstein does have karmic powers, as all cats do.

42. What is Elizabeth’s ethnicity?

She’s of Indian descent, but at the same time she’s south-american. Think the region of our Venezuela.

43. Does SHIVA or some other AI actually control all of the Subnet or just some parts of it? Is this a part of Submachines or has SHIVA just taken over?

Shiva is not in control. Shiva was the spark that created consciousness in the structure. Side note: no, Submachine Universe is not conscious, but it houses a conscious artificial being.

44. Why is resin pouring into and burying different Submachines?

This is the same process that lead the Lighthouse to be buried by sand. Layers that are offset by an angle can create a spill from one to another. This spill can be created by karma portal or natural intersection of two layers.

45. What significance does the AI from the note in Submachine 8 have on anything we see in the Subnet? Is the AI in question SHIVA? Is the AI responsible for first creating the Subnet? What is the answer to “Why are we” and is there a demonstration of this answer anywhere?

Yes, the AI mentioned in submachine 8 is Shiva. It’s significance is that it was the singularity. And that in turn created the growth of the subnet. I have no answer to the question “Why are we”. Nor does anyone in Submachine. That answer was known to Shiva, but only for a split second after the singularity.

46. Is it possible, for example, that a location, thousands of years old, never existed 3 days ago? in other words, something is old because because it was made to be old.

Not really. Some locations are made to look old, but they’re not actually old. Those locations are more of reconstructions of older ones. They may resemble structures that existed before and are not there anymore, or can be completely original.

47. Did people actually live in the Subnet or could they leave to be on their “home planet” or something like that.

Yes, people lived there and also could leave at any point if they so desired. Things got complicated after the singularity and the advent of spontaneous growth of the net.

48. You said long ago that Submachine locations are either “adopted” from older locations or “created from scratch”. Would you say the Submachine prefers either? If it favoured creating things formulaicly, that’d explain all the basement style locations, but on the other hand there’s loads and loads of unique chambers as well.

Submachine does not prefer, nor favor any type of location scheme. The creation is random and governed only by laws of physics at best, which, as we know are a bit shaky in the Submachine as well. Remember, the net is NOT conscious. It’s rng.

49. Can someone influence the creation of locations? like planting a seed or placing a frame.

Yes. There’s a spontaneous growth of the net, but that doesn’t exclude human interference in the process of building. Humans are still able to create the plan. It’s possible.

50. How does the player appear in the submachine?

Ah, back to the beginning. What a fitting ending to this q&a… If you’re still reading here, hey, have karma cookie! At the beginning of the first game the player is transported into the heart of the subnet via a karma portal from outside of the structure.

ShadowNiL wrote: "There's probably more that aren't as obvious, but there's no way for me to guess as a player what coordinate can have what sort of expansion. Either way, I'm excited for whatever comes next."

I know.

That's why creating lists of possible expansions by someone other than me is pointless.
Moreover, if you happen to hit a bulls eye and guess the exact expansion I had in mind it will be cancelled.

Sublevel 107 wrote: "

I see why no single of our theories created in 2005-2015 was fulfilled in any of submachine games...

)

I don't think any of them were directly on point.

Mateusz Skutnik explains his philosophy about expansions to rooms and confirms that no theory has been entirely accurate as of yet.

Feb 11, 2017 12:42 am

Another thing...stabiliser, not stand? Or are karma portal stands just more permanent versions of stabilisers?(in which case I would be inclined to think that a stabiliser can be anything that successfully "stabilizes" [duh] and houses a KP; including Rulo's stand and the stone wall that holds SBL's portal)

Yes, it's a stabiliser, and no, not all stands are stabilisers, as not all karma portals require a stabiliser.

In s10 we see clearly first-ge stabilisers, with wire and parts sticking on the outside. The stabiliser created by Robert L. Wood is from second or even third generation. Slick, smooth, does the job even when weathered by time.

Sublevel wrote:Why is there two unused "dead karma portals" (that karma dots) in Winter Place location? Did you plan to make them active later, but forget about them? Or was it "forgotten" in purpose? :P
(And restoration of Lab roof gets nothing. Or was it added as hint for using karma stabilizer?)

1. like a battery, they kind of faded away. That's why they're not there anymore.

2. restoration of lab roof is just to show you the stabiliser at work.

Posted in Pastel Forum, in response to a question about unrestorable blue karma dots appearing in Submachine 10.

Almost forgot! I revisited the flf digouts and it turns out that in the fifth layer this game has slight differences from other layers. Never expected it would happen, but I guess it did. I'll be showing the research result in two weeks or so.

December, 2013

but the energy gem is just another name for wisdom gem, or it's a different type of gem?

no, it's the same item. just named differently.

We learned the ancient name, the wisdom gem as ancient people did not have the vocabulary nor knowledge to name it more properly.
The name energy gem obviously comes from later, more technologically advanced epoch.
technology demistifies a lot that's been attributed to magic or gods.
same here.

ENIHCAMBUS wrote:

More technologically advanced epoch? You mean another Sub-Era? ;)
And what do you mean with Ancient People? Are you talking of the people that lived in the Core or someone ancient?

And this revelation may debunk some theories about Wisdom/Energy gems.

answering questions is pointless as each answer raises another three questions.

January, 2013

WorldisQuiet5256 wrote:
If Liz knew of Mur plan to Invade the Core, why didn't she and The Other dig into the Lighthouse, got the Player, Disable the Submachine Game and the Portal Machine at the Top of the Lighthouse, then reburied the Lighthouse.

and why didn't the eagles just take the one ring and toss it into the mount doom sparing those poor hobbits the whole journey? hmm?...

Mateusz making a reference to The Lord of Rings to clarify why anything can't be that easy.

October 2nd, 2012, around 1:30am

The game was making a simple reference to Alexander the Great cutting the Gordian Knot in half, which ties to the notes' several mentions of the knot metaphors. No need to over-analyzing it. What you need to analyze instead is the knot metaphor itself with the Loop.

May 17, 2012 11:45 pm

I'm talking about something else. Pulling a patch of gravity from one dimention and placing it onto another dimention. In this case the trick was - put the vertical building in the horizontal environment, causing it to become prone to sideways attack. that would also explain the sand coming through the windows of the lighthouse.

One thing is certain - that dimentional pull was temporary. Once the damage was done - they turned it off. Or rather - disconnected the layers.

Damn, I should copy this somewhere to keep it alive in the canon of the subnet.
I should also stfu already. ;)

Posted on PastelForum topic "submachine is real??...". Discussing the method of burial of the Lighthouse.

May 17, 2012 11:20 pm

the lighthouse was buried by intradimentional horizontal shift. they switched the location of the lighthouse to dimention that had a gravitational pull reversed by 90 degrees, so the lighthouse appeared as lying on the ground horizontally. then they just released the sand. it looked quite spectacular from the original lighthouse dimention. imagine. all that sand pouring onto lighthouse sideways.

Maybe I'll make a drawing of that in the future, would be quite a view.

Posted on PastelForum topic "submachine is real??...". Discussing the method of burial of the Lighthouse.

December 18th, 2010 - 3

there are 7 dimentions and I'd suppose - there are 7 versions of the same subnet. or not. maybe in one reality they didnt create subnet, and just core remains. there could be a dimention where the core is not damaged. who knows.

Posted on PastelForum on the layers.

December 18th, 2010 - 4

2.time could run differently in different dimensions (like in Inception;

3. he also could have been transported in time (remember ending of sub2? it says: did I travel too far, or too early). too early could mean that the lighthouse teleports not only to the outer rim but also 32 years into the past. After 32 years of searching murtaugh is finally ready to return to the core. And in the core it's one day before einstein disappears.

there are 3 explanations for you. no need to panic.

question is: did WE also travel 32 years back to the past when we entered the lighthouse portal?...

If Murtaugh really had gone silent to his Lighthouse for five months, why did they bury it?

because they knew he was up to something. remember. he mad small portals - reality begun shattering. locations started falling apart. death toll was high. and those were only small portals. his next step was desire to create big portal using lighthouse lamp. the one that eventually started 'the collapse'.

Posted in PastelForum about the Core and the Lighthouse and explaining possible reasons for dubious dates.

December 17th, 2010 - 3

liz says that the early portals, mur's "baby steps" were short-range, i shoulda mentioned this before, but i figured the green one was made later, when mur got into the core and then went onto section 5
so we're literally following in his footsteps

December 2nd, 2010 - 4

neurostatictoxin said: Those are just sketches, done by Void. I'd say, in the canon, were blueprints or prototype sketches or something. I am expecting Mateusz to have his own idea of how the sub-bots look and the designs in SNEE were just Mateusz "paying respect" (for the lack of better phrasing >_>) to his fans work and stuff.
Like the 3D models of the Mover.

I'd think so as well. besides, in the subnet it states that those are prototypes. there could've been many prototypes and I suspect that subbots look nothing like those sketches. To comfort void, they dont look like spiders either.

solved.

Posted on PastelForum on subject of Sub-bots and their development and shape.

November 8th, 2010 - 2

Makes me think that the absorption theory is indeed correct. That the Submachine does indeed absorb humans.

not exactly. what he meant was... wherever you look, you probably see bones. You probably have them in your eyesight. somewhere. that was him making a point that not only the subnet is endless by now and everywhere, but the people searching the net also spread everywhere.

At least that's what I think.

Posted on PastelForum replying on a comment about the meaning of his prior note.

November 8th, 2010 - 3

Well, not actually heard. I just read them on pieces of paper. I read that there were exploring teams. For the love of god, did he really form teams? what happened to those men and women? where their shattered bones lie right now?

I know that everywhere I look I'm probably looking at bones. The subnet is everywhere. How many people had to die for him to gather the information he so dearly needed?

Jesus.

I never joined any exploration team. I never saw anybody. I'm not much of an explorer. If you tell me to do something - I will. But I see no point in exploring the infinity. Maybe that's why he chose me for the defsys mission. Maybe that's the reason I'm standing on this ledge right now.

When I look around I see submachine.
When I look down I see nothing.

I want to be there."
- lost note from sub6, written, but never found.

Posted on PastelForum replying to a users thread regarding their theory on the Submachine.

Sometime 2010 - 2

but that leaf did something out of the picture in the loop. its like a grain of sand in the large hadron collider. or something.

and as for the list of organic things in the sub:
you should look closer. its not accurate. for example - sub6 - the aging room - there are DEGFINIETLY green mold on the wall. if thats not organic, then what is?...

Sep 4, 2009 6:55 pm

No, I meant that the evolution is caused atleats partially by human rebuilding from within.

no.

I still think Defense System is the byproduct of its own evolution and awareness

yes.

Going back to the humans building the defense system. Perhaps they weren't barring themselves out, but maybe something else? Perhaps there is an alien species involved, they want something from the humans... So the humans built defenses to keep out the aliens, Mur is this alien and wants us to help him get it...

...no.

...

//---------------------
The first submachine was built by an unknown scientist. But after that it started growing on its own. Remember the first portals? those is sub5? how that technology evolved into the portal machine known originally from sub4? You think that machine was built by humans? I dont think so. But its designed to transfer humans from one location to another. So how does it compute, since the submachine treats humans as viruses (the infestation reference). How could it build something that clearly spreads the infestation...

the only solution to this, as I see it, is that those portals were NOT created FOR humans. And certainly not by them.

Posted on Pastel Forum; Submachine 6: Theories and Suggestions; Page 243; Replying to several users posts regarding Submachine 6 and the history of Submachine and the Subnet

May 23, 2009 12:42 pm

Mur. Could actually be a machine leading you to the edge when in fact you are going deeper into the net.

Submachine 7 is called "The Core"

These little spoilers should keep you happy...

Posted on Wiki: May 23, 2009 12:42 pm; Subject: Subnoob's Theories. This is the quoted text. It is still unconfirmed if this quote came directly from Mateusz Skutnik because it was posted unsigned on the wiki.

Mar 10, 2008 8:21 am

well, you are the experts, but as far as I remember the story goes like this:

- murtaugh had a third, invisible, karma arm with which he was able to create portals. The structure was then disturbed for the first time.
- then he proceeded to create portals for others - that was in sub2, where he created stable portal using the lighthouse lamp.
- then the story breaks, and we get back to it when there is a whole lab created by mur. with poirtals and everything.

Mar 08, 2008 10:44 pm

sub6 will be about the edge and defence systems - I wasnt joking about those systems.

No retrospections of previous submachines. Completely new material.

Do the defence systems point outwards or inwards - that was avery good question. Its so good, that I cant answer that :D

Just to steer you to some direction - a pure, untouched by murtaugh location. He's never been there. He can't go there.

Defence system recognizes infested locations. Infested by portals and humans. With the lab location being the hive of all evil that's destroying the structure and murtaugh being a father of all this mess.

October 11, 2007 6:14 am

besides, you dont see a submachine room on that screen that says "it's just a computer screen", now do you.

you were wondering around. solved puzzles. got beamed up by the lighthouse lamp. and at that point yous ee the cutscene, which is on the computer screen. right?

that means - the issue or subamchine's realm and image being on screen have nothing to do with each other.

so far we've seen: few tests, the lab, which is an outside structure created for sub exploration, now the root, we haven't seen the most important things, like the centre of the subnet, peripheral defense structure and such. oops, I'm thinking too loud. will shut up.

Sep 10, 2007 10:20 am

as for your question - someone triggered sponatenous creation of submachines. After the "invention" sub started to expand by itself. so there was a human factor in it at the beginning. but no more.

Commenting a theory by the librarian and answering:"is the Submachine doing it's own thing or is there someone building and expanding it? Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 10:20 am; Subject: Submachine 5: The Root Theories

Sep 10, 2007 6:43 am

soullock you forget that the subnet is vast and limitless, as shown in sub3.

I've been saying that for a long time. there is place for DIFFERENT kinds of subs in it. there can be even structures floating in air. we didn't see it yet, but they exist. besides, the name "submachine" was given by the original creator of the first submachine in early 20th century as we know, and there are two options:

- he named that after what he has seen, and surely he didnt see it all. maybe he has seen only submerged parts of the structure, hence the name.

- he named it after what he desired to built (underground structure), but we know that submachine got out of hands and started spreading by itself. to no limit.

Sep 09, 2007 7:57 pm

Hi Elizabeth.
Even in my strangest dreams I never thought that I would be able to create through dimentional pathways leading to new unexplored places. My
new experiment took me rigth below the lighthouse straight to those legendary ruins. You can call me a discoverer from now on. And I only used
that wisdom gem that I found lately. Just think where possibly I could go using the lighthouse itself and its full power of light.

I'm considering moving to another place next 32 days.

Will you take care of Einstein for me?
Yours

m

you mean this one? its not about ancient section ruins. It's about those red-walled ruins in sub2, at the beginning ;P

and the origin of the wisdom gem found we dont know. We can assume it was basement's, but that'd implicate that player is mur, which I doubt, but we know by now that mur is capable of placing items on different positions, such as the orb in sub4.

Answering to a hypotesis that player in Sub0 is mur and he described Ancient ruins in the letter to Liz. Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 7:57 pm; Subject: Submachine 5: The Root Theories

Aug 30, 2007 6:39 am

As i said - it's a vast universe and almost anything goes. So in this way - its a part of the series.

Completely different thing is that somewhere else in the subnet is an ongoing story that we follow through sub1-sub4.

A short spoiler and a question. I was thinking about developing the "wisdom gem" plot in sub 5. Those things would be collectable, like one per game, since we already have two of them. You go on a quest for the third one. what do you think?

Aug 16, 2007 10:18 pm

The question by ShadowsQuest2500 was:did you program the game as an infiniitve number when clicking up, down, left, or right or is there a number in which the game stops? Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 10:18 pm; Subject: Submachine3: the LOOP

and btw - we were thinking hard on taking the submachine on to the next level. that was one of the ideas. 3D however is not an option. graphics and appearance must be the same. And I would even think of multiplayer submachine unless SOMEBODY told me it was possible.

again:

I know its all mysterious, just as the submachine itself, but the mere coinsidence of mentioning the exploartion teams in sub4 lead us to multiplayer. taking the community even further.

May 19, 2007 11:04 pm

1. no, it was always a part of submachine. Its a vast net, almost anything can be found during the search.

2. I dont know, objects appear during the development of the game, not before.

3. yes, sub5 will be slightly smaller.

4. I had a good idea even before that. the root. you know this. I know whati want to show you already.

ok, now I've got a question. How would you guys like toplay an submachine: multiplayer.

.......

i know its a question out of nowhere, but just imagine. you'd have to team up with some other player in order to get through submachine (it would be impossible alone). exploration teams, as we already call it :D

Questions by soullock:1.ancient section was included in sub4 to clear out that is part of the Subnet? 2.Will we see other kitchen utensil in the future Subs? 3.Will Sub5 be shorter than sub2 and sub4? 5. Had good idea on Sub5 during vacations? Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 11:04 pm; Subject: Submachine theories

Apr 28, 2007 9:42 am

As for Sub 0 (Ancient Sub) Who is to say this was not the 1st Submachine built. After all even if time travel was involved according to anyone
other than the builders it would have been the 1st. Its construction predates the the rest so far as we know on a liner time line. Wouldn't

that make it the 1st one build by a historical point of view

I am to say this. ;). it was made long after the first submachine. From the builders point of view, naturally, what other point of view can w take?...

historical? with the time machine a 'historical' point of view doesnt exist anymore.... Besides, they're ancient RUINS. we've got ruins up to date, so who tossed the idea that ancient location was built in BC? they could've built it in 1932 using some old ruins, as I see it. I'm not saying that they did, but there is a possibility...

Lemartes wrote:

If by the builders point of view they built one in 1900ad then went back in time to build one in 1900bc then and only then could you say the

1900ad was 1st and only if you looked at it from the builders view of time.

exactly

Lemartes wrote:

I think the reason you see no people is cause your the straggler in this game you have been left behind to catch up with everyone else. They

are already deep in the Submachine network where as you just started scratching the service of the whole thing.

kaboom. Can't tell you you hit the nail on the head, but that's a very good idea

Lemartes wrote:

P.S.S. I was also wondering about the number 32 too. It shows up a lot. Hmmmm wasn't there a movie recently with Nick Cage that had some super

natural thing about the number 32? If you do some math stuff to it you get bible numbers and stuff.

Apr 13, 2007 6:37 am

Well, that is true on more than just one level. I create those games. From that perspective they're all in my head. On the other hand, from the perspective of a game character, that would be possible that the man actually went to all those locations, and that surely wouldn't be me. Which theory do you choose? :D

m

The theory was that the mur in Submachine is the author himself. Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:37 am; Subject: Submachine theories

Apr 13, 2007 6:34 am

What I meant was - I'm looking for fresh ideas, solutions that have never been though of. Puzzles that will not be solvable because they were similar to some other pnc games. that kind of stuff.

lately I thought of a puzzle. You have that grandfathers clock. But when you zoom in, the numbers on the clock do not match hours. Like - normal goes from 1 to 12, but this would go, for example 5, 12, 8, 36, 11, 10, 2, 1 etc...

theny in some other part of the game you'd have to use those numbers correctly, like you know you have to use twelve o'clock, but the changed number. That kind of stuff.

Apr 05, 2007 8:50 pm

as for myst - I only played myst5 the end of ages, but didnt finish that. It's damn hard. Now the biggest surprize of all times: I'm not that good at point and click games. :D

I can make them, no problem, but solving a game is quite difficult for me...

However, Myst wasn't my inspiration, for as far as I can tell that was your question about.

However there are games that I adore. Samorost 1 and 2, I think those are the best pnc games ever. 99rooms, another great online adventure. I didn't enjoy classic MOTAS, probably because of not so sharp graphics. I'm very sensitive about the game graphics. What else, crimson room was doable, but viridian room was too hard for me :/

You mentioned time spent on making sub4. Well, few months as I recall. Right now my wife is making last test of the game, no bugs spotted :D

So its up to arcadetown how fast will they publish this.

m

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:50 pm; Subject: Re: ^^

Mar 27, 2007 6:43 am

hmm, I always thought that the loop in submachine3 was some sort of a passage. Just a path, a road to something or somewhere. As for other theories. Submachines were created here on earth in the early 20th century. I agree that all of them are in one dimension. But on the other hand it is also possible that some of them were taken out of this world and put SOMEWHERE ELSE.

either case, i think you're quite ready for playing submachin4 and we should dicuss this further after you play s4. ;)

Mar 23, 2007 7:34 am

umm, no, you didn't understand. This is not a spoiler of the sub4 storyline. This is much further. A whole picture. Well, the part of it.

Soullock wrote:
Now you pretty much convince me that Submachine isn't within machine, even though it a good theory of mine.... v.=.v whaaaa...

ha!

Soullock wrote:

But PLEASE do not spoil the reason for creation of Submachines!!! I think that part is major plot revelation that should stay in the game.

Thanks for not telling =3

the reason...... I doubt even the great man at the beginnig didn't quite know the purpose. he just got directives.

Soullock wrote:
Oh wait... you mean the one of first kind of Submachine was the red brick-built chambers underneath the Lighthouse?

no, these are different kind of rooms. There are two kinds of submachine enviroments. One is when the existing terrain is adopted to the form of submachine chambers. That happened in sub2, or submachine zero. the other kind is when submachine is built from the scratch. Like Sub1 and sub 3 especially. Sub3 in fact shows that it's impossible for us to tell the location of the submachine.

Soullock wrote:
And now that got me thinking... why The Loop is looping rooms and is endless???

well, that is the big question now. So is it a computer loop? a disfunctional sector of the matrix? I doubt that. That looks like another dimension to me. Ask another question. WHY is it described as timeless and spaceless. The measurement of "time" attached to our planet can be altered or seen differently somewhere else. And the space? that three-dimentional concept of the space? well, I guess it applies to sub3, since we have a navigator in our hand. but when I look at that device I'm even more convinced that its not from that lcoation. It was put there by someone. It was not part of the loop mystery. it was just laying there waiting for you to pick it up. So who put it there? I did.

Soullock wrote:
And why did we come out of the Arcade in beginning of Sub 2???

somebody's playing tricks with your mind. Do't let them fool you. How can you tell that you came out of arcade at the beginning? Only because you see the picture on the screen. I show you things, and you believe them. I guess that's how it goes.

Soullock wrote:
Blarg!!! Thanks... now you gave us more questions than answer... whaaaa...

You need answers? but that what you saw was just a tip of the iceberg. The rest is... you know... under water. or in other words - under the surface of my mind. I've been there, I've seen it all with my very own eyes. Maybe you should start asking proper questions. Maybe your theories don't work that well because you see only what I want to show you.

Mar 22, 2007 7:24 pm

yeah, sure, its all possible since we're all living inside the matrix.

I have a history of the submachines in my head. One day I'll tell you about the early builts of the submachine, that took place in ~1900 ~1906 in Kent.

whoops, did I spoil something?

Maybe one day I'll take you there to see it for yourself. Those early, brickwalled builts of submachines. But as far as I remember from being there, they were smaller than modern submachines, they were kind of experiments only. The biggest one had capacity similar to that from the first submachine. About 20 chambers. It was a engineering miracle at that time.
After the fourth game we will gain some device, or a computer software - in case this is all just simulation - to take us there.

I have to think about it.

but seems like a good idea. How did it all start? who was the creative genius that made these sub constructions possible? I know him, I met him myself. Quite a nice guy by the way.

Mar 07, 2007 7:16 am

But now that I think about it... All of the sub games seemed to have taken place underground... Am I the only one who finds that strange...?

*inquisitively raises an eyebrow*

the name of the game starts with "SUB". that is because all of the locations were in fact underground. sub-machine, meaning: underground machine. not semi-automatic gun. this has nothing to do with submachine gun. ;)

lone watcher wrote:
Murtagh, I now have a good idea what the game will be about (maybe you gave too many hints?).

drop me an PM and we'll see. But I doubt that.

m

Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 7:16 am; Subject: Submachine4: the Lab

Aug 10, 2006 6:28 am

I gotta say, I wasn't overly fond of the third one. I kinda liked having to find and collect all the little items and components and whatnot.
Still amazing, and I can't wait for the fourth, and even many more, with a subject like time and space, you can go forever.

Also, did you get the idea of the Submachine series from the also point and click Mysteries of Time and Space?

I surely know MOTAS, but I dont know if I can say it was an inspiration for sub. I could as well point out samorost, games created by Nanahiro, such as treasure box, all those chambers (viridian, blue, white) and all pnc games in general for I've been playing them all on lazylaces.com for a long time now.